LVII
the close of a beautiful life
LIFE which had begun very cheerfully at Riverdale ended sadly enough. In August, at York Harbor, Maine, Mrs. Clemens's health failed and she was brought home an invalid, confined almost entirely to her room. She had been always the life, the center, the mainspring of the household. Now she must not even be consulted—hardly visited. On her bad days—and they were many—Clemens, sad and anxious, spent most of his time lingering about her door, waiting for news, or until he was permitted to see her for a brief moment. In his memorandum-book of that period he wrote:
Our dear prisoner is where she is through overwork—day and night devotion to the children and me. We did not know how to value it. We know now.
And on the margin of a letter praising him for what he had done for the world's enjoyment, and for his triumph over debt, he wrote:
Livy never gets her share of those applauses, but it is because the people do not know. Yet she is entitled to the lion's share.
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